Bezel Gap Antennas

ABSTRACT

Electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. A parallel-fed loop antenna may be formed from portions of an electronic device bezel and a ground plane. The antenna may operate in multiple communications bands. An impedance matching circuit for the antenna may be formed from a parallel-connected inductive element and a series-connected capacitive element. The bezel may surround a peripheral portion of a display that is mounted to the front of an electronic device. The bezel may contain a gap. Antenna feed terminals for the antenna may be located on opposing sides of the gap. The inductive element may bridge the gap and the antenna feed terminals. The capacitive element may be connected in series between one of the antenna feed terminals and a conductor in a transmission line located between the transceiver circuitry and the antenna.

This application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No.12/630,756, filed Dec. 3, 2009, which is hereby incorporated byreferenced herein in its entirety. This application claims the benefitof and claims priority to patent application Ser. No. 12/630,756, filedDec. 3, 2009.

BACKGROUND

This relates generally to wireless communications circuitry, and moreparticularly, to electronic devices that have wireless communicationscircuitry.

Electronic devices such as handheld electronic devices are becomingincreasingly popular. Examples of handheld devices include handheldcomputers, cellular telephones, media players, and hybrid devices thatinclude the functionality of multiple devices of this type.

Devices such as these are often provided with wireless communicationscapabilities. For example, electronic devices may use long-rangewireless communications circuitry such as cellular telephone circuitryto communicate using cellular telephone bands at 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900 MHz (e.g., the main Global System for MobileCommunications or GSM cellular telephone bands). Long-range wirelesscommunications circuitry may also handle the 2100 MHz band. Electronicdevices may use short-range wireless communications links to handlecommunications with nearby equipment. For example, electronic devicesmay communicate using the WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) bands at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHzand the Bluetooth° band at 2.4 GHz.

To satisfy consumer demand for small form factor wireless devices,manufacturers are continually striving to implement wirelesscommunications circuitry such as antenna components using compactstructures. At the same time, it may be desirable to include conductivestructures in an electronic device such as metal device housingcomponents. Because conductive components can affect radio-frequencyperformance, care must be taken when incorporating antennas into anelectronic device that includes conductive structures.

It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved wirelesscommunications circuitry for wireless electronic devices.

SUMMARY

Electronic devices may be provided that include antenna structures. Anantenna may be configured to operate in first and second communicationsbands. An electronic device may contain radio-frequency transceivercircuitry that is coupled to the antenna using a transmission line. Thetransmission line may have a positive conductor and a ground conductor.The antenna may have a positive antenna feed terminal and a groundantenna feed terminal to which the positive and ground conductors of thetransmission line are respectively coupled.

The electronic device may have a rectangular periphery. A rectangulardisplay may be mounted on a front face of the electronic device. Theelectronic device may have a rear face that is formed form a plastichousing member. Conductive sidewall structures may run around theperiphery of the electronic device housing and display. The conductivesidewall structures may serve as a bezel for the display.

The bezel may include at least one gap. The gap may be filled with asolid dielectric such as plastic. The antenna may be formed from theportion of the bezel that includes the gap and a portion of a groundplane. To avoid excessive sensitivity to touch events, the antenna maybe fed using a feed arrangement that reduces electric fieldconcentration in the vicinity of the gap. An impedance matching networkmay be formed that provides satisfactory operation in both the first andsecond bands.

The impedance matching network may include an inductive element that isformed in parallel with the antenna feed terminals and a capacitiveelement that is formed in series with one of the antenna feed terminals.

The inductive element may be formed from a transmission line inductivestructure that bridges the antenna feed terminals. The capacitiveelement may be formed from a capacitor that is interposed in thepositive feed path for the antenna. The capacitor may, for example, beconnected between the positive ground conductor of the transmission lineand the positive antenna feed terminal.

Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantageswill be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device withwireless communications circuitry in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device withwireless communications circuitry in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional end view of an illustrative electronicdevice with wireless communications circuitry in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an illustrative antenna in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative series-fed loop antennathat may be used in an electronic device in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing how an electronic device antenna may beconfigured to exhibit coverage in multiple communications bands inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative parallel-fed loopantenna that may be used in an electronic device in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an illustrative parallel-feed loop antenna withan inductance interposed in the loop in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an illustrative parallel-fed loop antenna havingan inductive transmission line structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an illustrative parallel-fed loop antenna withan inductive transmission line structure and a series-connectedcapacitive element in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a Smith chart illustrating the performance of variouselectronic device loop antennas in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Electronic devices may be provided with wireless communicationscircuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may be used to supportwireless communications in multiple wireless communications bands. Thewireless communications circuitry may include one or more antennas.

The antennas can include loop antennas. Conductive structures for a loopantenna may, if desired, be formed from conductive electronic devicestructures. The conductive electronic device structures may includeconductive housing structures. The housing structures may include aconductive bezel. Gap structures may be formed in the conductive bezel.The antenna may be parallel-fed using a configuration that helps tominimize sensitivity of the antenna to contact with a user's hand orother external object.

Any suitable electronic devices may be provided with wireless circuitrythat includes loop antenna structures. As an example, loop antennastructures may be used in electronic devices such as desktop computers,game consoles, routers, laptop computers, etc. With one suitableconfiguration, loop antenna structures are provided in relativelycompact electronic devices in which interior space is relativelyvaluable such as portable electronic devices.

An illustrative portable electronic device in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. Portableelectronic devices such as illustrative portable electronic device 10may be laptop computers or small portable computers such asultraportable computers, netbook computers, and tablet computers.Portable electronic devices may also be somewhat smaller devices.Examples of smaller portable electronic devices include wrist-watchdevices, pendant devices, headphone and earpiece devices, and otherwearable and miniature devices. With one suitable arrangement, theportable electronic devices are handheld electronic devices such ascellular telephones.

Space is at a premium in portable electronic devices. Conductivestructures are also typically present, which can make efficient antennaoperation challenging. For example, conductive housing structures may bepresent around some or all of the periphery of a portable electronicdevice housing.

In portable electronic device housing arrangements such as these, it maybe particularly advantageous to use loop-type antenna designs that covercommunications bands of interest. The use of portable devices such ashandheld devices is therefore sometimes described herein as an example,although any suitable electronic device may be provided with loopantenna structures, if desired.

Handheld devices may be, for example, cellular telephones, media playerswith wireless communications capabilities, handheld computers (alsosometimes called personal digital assistants), remote controllers,global positioning system (GPS) devices, and handheld gaming devices.Handheld devices and other portable devices may, if desired, include thefunctionality of multiple conventional devices. Examples ofmulti-functional devices include cellular telephones that include mediaplayer functionality, gaming devices that include wirelesscommunications capabilities, cellular telephones that include game andemail functions, and handheld devices that receive email, support mobiletelephone calls, and support web browsing. These are merely illustrativeexamples.

Device 10 of FIG. 1 may be any suitable portable or handheld electronicdevice. Device 10 includes housing 12 and includes at least one antennafor handling wireless communications. Housing 12, which is sometimesreferred to as a case, may be formed of any suitable materialsincluding, plastic, glass, ceramics, composites, metal, or othersuitable materials, or a combination of these materials. In somesituations, parts of housing 12 may be formed from dielectric or otherlow-conductivity material, so that the operation of conductive antennaelements that are located within housing 12 is not disrupted. In othersituations, housing 12 may be formed from metal elements.

Device 10 may, if desired, have a display such as display 14. Display 14may, for example, be a touch screen that incorporates capacitive touchelectrodes. Display 14 may include image pixels formed formlight-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs), plasma cells,electronic ink elements, liquid crystal display (LCD) components, orother suitable image pixel structures. A cover glass member may coverthe surface of display 14. Buttons such as button 19 may pass throughopenings in the cover glass.

Housing 12 may include sidewall structures such as sidewall structures16. Structures 16 may be implemented using conductive materials. Forexample, structures 16 may be implemented using a conductive ring memberthat substantially surrounds the rectangular periphery of display 14.Structures 16 may be formed from a metal such as stainless steel,aluminum, or other suitable materials. One, two, or more than twoseparate structures may be used in forming structures 16. Structures 16may serve as a bezel that holds display 14 to the front (top) face ofdevice 10. Structures 16 are therefore sometimes referred to herein asbezel structures 16 or bezel 16. Bezel 16 runs around the rectangularperiphery of device 10 and display 14.

Bezel 16 may have a thickness (dimension TT) of about 0.1 mm to 3 mm (asan example). The sidewall portions of bezel 16 may be substantiallyvertical (parallel to vertical axis V). Parallel to axis V, bezel 16 mayhave a dimension TZ of about 1 mm to 2 cm (as an example). The aspectratio R of bezel 16 (i.e., the of TZ to TT) is typically more than 1(i.e., R may be greater than or equal to 1, greater than or equal to 2,greater than or equal to 4, greater than or equal to 10, etc.).

It is not necessary for bezel 16 to have a uniform cross-section. Forexample, the top portion of bezel 16 may, if desired, have an inwardlyprotruding lip that helps hold display 14 in place. If desired, thebottom portion of bezel 16 may also have an enlarged lip (e.g., in theplane of the rear surface of device 10). In the example of FIG. 1, bezel16 has substantially straight vertical sidewalls. This is merelyillustrative. The sidewalls of bezel 16 may be curved or may have anyother suitable shape.

Display 14 includes conductive structures such as an array of capacitiveelectrodes, conductive lines for addressing pixel elements, drivercircuits, etc. These conductive structures tend to block radio-frequencysignals.

It may therefore be desirable to form some or all of the rear planarsurface of device from a dielectric material such as plastic.

Portions of bezel 16 may be provided with gap structures. For example,bezel 16 may be provided with one or more gaps such as gap 18, as shownin FIG. 1. Gap 18 lies along the periphery of the housing of device 10and display 12 and is therefore sometimes referred to as a peripheralgap. Gap 18 divides bezel 16 (i.e., there is generally no conductiveportion of bezel 16 in gap 18).

As shown in FIG. 1, gap 18 may be filled with dielectric. For example,gap 18 may be filled with air. To help provide device 10 with a smoothuninterrupted appearance and to ensure that bezel 16 is aestheticallyappealing, gap 18 may be filled with a solid (non-air) dielectric suchas plastic. Bezel 16 and gaps such as gap (and its associated plasticfiller structure) may form part of one or more antennas in device 10.For example, portions of bezel 16 and gaps such as gap 18 may, inconjunction with internal conductive structures, form one or more loopantennas. The internal conductive structures may include printed circuitboard structures, frame members or other support structures, or othersuitable conductive structures.

In a typical scenario, device 10 may have upper and lower antennas (asan example). An upper antenna may, for example, be formed at the upperend of device 10 in region 22. A lower antenna may, for example, beformed at the lower end of device 10 in region 20. The lower antennamay, for example, be formed partly from the portions of bezel 16 in thevicinity of gap 18.

Antennas in device 10 may be used to support any communications bands ofinterest. For example, device 10 may include antenna structures forsupporting local area network communications, voice and data cellulartelephone communications, global positioning system (GPS)communications, Bluetooth° communications, etc. As an example, the lowerantenna in region 20 of device 10 may be used in handling voice and datacommunications in one or more cellular telephone bands.

A schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device is shown inFIG. 2. Device 10 of FIG. 2 may be a portable computer such as aportable tablet computer, a mobile telephone, a mobile telephone withmedia player capabilities, a handheld computer, a remote control, a gameplayer, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a combination of suchdevices, or any other suitable portable electronic device.

As shown in FIG. 2, handheld device 10 may include storage andprocessing circuitry 28. Storage and processing circuitry 28 may includestorage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flashmemory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured toform a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamicrandom-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in storage andprocessing circuitry 28 may be used to control the operation of device10. This processing circuitry may be based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,applications specific integrated circuits, etc.

Storage and processing circuitry 28 may be used to run software ondevice 10, such as internet browsing applications,voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, emailapplications, media playback applications, operating system functions,etc. To support interactions with external equipment, storage andprocessing circuitry 28 may be used in implementing communicationsprotocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented usingstorage and processing circuitry 28 include internet protocols, wirelesslocal area network protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimesreferred to as WiFi®), protocols for other short-range wirelesscommunications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol, cellular telephoneprotocols, etc.

Input-output circuitry 30 may be used to allow data to be supplied todevice 10 and to allow data to be provided from device 10 to externaldevices. Input-output devices 32 such as touch screens and other userinput interface are examples of input-output circuitry 32. Input-outputdevices 32 may also include user input-output devices such as buttons,joysticks, click wheels, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads,keyboards, microphones, cameras, etc. A user can control the operationof device 10 by supplying commands through such user input devices.Display and audio devices such as display 14 (FIG. 1) and othercomponents that present visual information and status data may beincluded in devices 32. Display and audio components in input-outputdevices 32 may also include audio equipment such as speakers and otherdevices for creating sound. If desired, input-output devices 32 maycontain audio-video interface equipment such as jacks and otherconnectors for external headphones and monitors.

Wireless communications circuitry 34 may include radio-frequency (RF)transceiver circuitry formed from one or more integrated circuits, poweramplifier circuitry, low-noise input amplifiers, passive RF components,one or more antennas, and other circuitry for handling RF wirelesssignals. Wireless signals can also be sent using light (e.g., usinginfrared communications). Wireless communications circuitry 34 mayinclude radio-frequency transceiver circuits for handling multipleradio-frequency communications bands. For example, circuitry 34 mayinclude transceiver circuitry 36 and 38. Transceiver circuitry 36 mayhandle 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) communicationsand may handle the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® communications band. Circuitry 34may use cellular telephone transceiver circuitry 38 for handlingwireless communications in cellular telephone bands such as the GSMbands at 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 1900 MHz, and the 2100 MHz databand (as examples). Wireless communications circuitry 34 can includecircuitry for other short-range and long-range wireless links ifdesired. For example, wireless communications circuitry 34 may includeglobal positioning system (GPS) receiver equipment, wireless circuitryfor receiving radio and television signals, paging circuits, etc. InWiFi® and Bluetooth® links and other short-range wireless links,wireless signals are typically used to convey data over tens or hundredsof feet. In cellular telephone links and other long-range links,wireless signals are typically used to convey data over thousands offeet or miles.

Wireless communications circuitry 34 may include antennas 40. Antennas40 may be formed using any suitable antenna types. For example, antennas40 may include antennas with resonating elements that are formed fromloop antenna structure, patch antenna structures, inverted-F antennastructures, slot antenna structures, planar inverted-F antennastructures, helical antenna structures, hybrids of these designs, etc.Different types of antennas may be used for different bands andcombinations of bands. For example, one type of antenna may be used informing a local wireless link antenna and another type of antenna may beused in forming a remote wireless link.

With one suitable arrangement, which is sometimes described herein as anexample, the lower antenna in device (i.e., an antenna 40 located inregion 20 of device 10 of FIG. 1) may be formed using a loop-typeantenna design. When a user holds device 10, the user's fingers maycontact the exterior of device 10. For example, the user may touchdevice 10 in region 20. To ensure that antenna performance is not overlysensitive to the presence or absence of a user's touch or contact byother external objects, the loop-type antenna may be fed using anarrangement that does not overly concentrate electric fields in thevicinity of gap 18.

A cross-sectional side view of device 10 of FIG. 1 taken along line24-24 in FIG. 1 and viewed in direction 26 is shown in FIG. 3. As shownin FIG. 3, display 14 may be mounted to the front surface of device 10using bezel 16. Housing 12 may include sidewalls formed from bezel 16and one or more rear walls formed from structures such as planar rearhousing structure 42. Structure 42 may be formed from a dielectric suchas plastic or other suitable materials. Snaps, clips, screws, adhesive,and other structures may be used in attaching bezel 16 to display 14 andrear housing wall structure 42.

Device 10 may contain printed circuit boards such as printed circuitboard 46. Printed circuit board 46 and the other printed circuit boardsin device 10 may be formed from rigid printed circuit board material(e.g., fiberglass-filled epoxy) or flexible sheets of material such aspolymers. Flexible printed circuit boards (“flex circuits”) may, forexample, be formed from flexible sheets of polyimide.

Printed circuit board 46 may contain interconnects such as interconnects48. Interconnects 48 may be formed from conductive traces (e.g., tracesof gold-plated copper or other metals). Connectors such as connector 50may be connected to interconnects 48 using solder or conductive adhesive(as examples). Integrated circuits, discrete components such asresistors, capacitors, and inductors, and other electronic componentsmay be mounted to printed circuit board 46.

Antenna 40 may have antenna feed terminals. For example, antenna 40 mayhave a positive antenna feed terminal such as positive antenna feedterminal 58 and a ground antenna feed terminal such as ground antennafeed terminal 54. In the illustrative arrangement of FIG. 3, atransmission line path such as coaxial cable 52 may be coupled betweenthe antenna feed formed from terminals 58 and 54 and transceivercircuitry in components 44 via connector 50 and interconnects 48.Components 44 may include one or more integrated circuits that implementthe transceiver circuits 36 and 38 of FIG. 2. Connector 50 may be, forexample, a coaxial cable connector that is connected to printed circuitboard 46. Cable 52 may be a coaxial cable or other transmission line.Terminal 58 may be coupled to coaxial cable center connector 56.Terminal 54 may be connected to a ground conductor in cable 52 (e.g., aconductive outer braid conductor). Other arrangements may be used forcoupling transceivers in device 10 to antenna 40 if desired. Thearrangement of FIG. 3 is merely illustrative.

As the cross-sectional view of FIG. 3 makes clear, the sidewalls ofhousing 12 that are formed by bezel 16 may be relatively tall. At thesame time, the amount of area that is available to form an antenna inregion 20 at the lower end of device 10 may be limited, particularly ina compact device. The compact size that is desired form forming theantenna may make it difficult to form a slot-type antenna shape ofsufficient size to resonant in desired communications bands. The shapeof bezel 16 may tend to reduce the efficiency of conventional planarinverted-F antennas. Challenges such as these may, if desired, beaddressed using a loop-type design for antenna 40.

Consider, as an example, the antenna arrangement of FIG. 4. As shown inFIG. 4, antenna 40 may be formed in region 20 of device 10. Region 20may be located at the lower end of device 10, as described in connectionwith FIG. 1. Conductive region 68, which may sometimes be referred to asa ground plane or ground plane element, may be formed from one or moreconductive structures (e.g., planar conductive traces on printed circuitboard 46, internal structural members in device 10, electricalcomponents 44 on board 46, radio-frequency shielding cans mounted onboard 46, etc.). Conductive region 68 in region 66 is sometimes referredto as forming a “ground region” for antenna 40. Conductive structures 70of FIG. 4 may be formed by bezel 16. Regions 70 are sometimes referredto as ground plane extensions. Gap 18 may be formed in this conductivebezel portion (as shown in FIG. 1).

Ground plane extensions 70 (i.e., portions of bezel 16) and the portionsof region 68 that lie along edge 76 of ground region 68 form aconductive loop around opening 72. Opening 72 may be formed from air,plastics and other solid dielectrics. If desired, the outline of opening72 may be curved, may have more than four straight segments, and/or maybe defined by the outlines of conductive components. The rectangularshape of dielectric region 72 in FIG. 4 is merely illustrative.

The conductive structures of FIG. 4 may, if desired, be fed by couplingradio-frequency transceiver 60 across ground antenna feed terminal 62and positive antenna feed terminal 64. As shown in FIG. 4, in this typeof arrangement, the feed for antenna 40 is not located in the vicinityof gap 18 (i.e., feed terminals 62 and 64 are located to the left oflaterally centered dividing line 74 of opening 72, whereas gap 18 islocated to the right of dividing line 74 along the right-hand side ofdevice 10). While this type of arrangement may be satisfactory in somesituations, antenna feed arrangements that locate the antenna feedterminals at the locations of terminals 62 and 64 of FIG. 4 tend toaccentuate the electric field strength of the radio-frequency antennasignals in the vicinity of gap 18. If a user happens to place anexternal object such as finger 80 into the vicinity of gap 18 by movingfinger 80 in direction 78 (e.g., when grasping device 10 in the user'shand), the presence of the user's finger may disrupt the operation ofantenna 40.

To ensure that antenna 40 is not overly sensitive to touch (i.e., todesensitize antenna 40 to touch events involving the hand of the user ofdevice 10 and other external objects), antenna 40 may be fed usingantenna feed terminals located in the vicinity of gap 18 (e.g., whereshown by positive antenna feed terminal 58 and ground antenna feedterminal 54 in the FIG. 4 example). When the antenna feed is located tothe right of line 74 and, more particularly, when the antenna feed islocated close to gap 18, the electric fields that are produced at gap 18tend to be reduced. This helps minimize the sensitivity of antenna 40 tothe presence of the user's hand, ensuring satisfactory operationregardless of whether or not an external object is in contact withdevice 10 in the vicinity of gap 18.

In the arrangement of FIG. 4, antenna 40 is being series fed. Aschematic diagram of a series-fed loop antenna of the type shown in FIG.4 is shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 5, series-fed loop antenna 82 mayhave a loop-shaped conductive path such as loop 84. A transmission linecomposed of positive transmission line conductor 86 and groundtransmission line conductor 88 may be coupled to antenna feed terminals58 and 54, respectively.

It may be challenging to effectively use a series-fed feed arrangementof the type shown in FIG. 5 to feed a multi-band loop antenna. Forexample, it may be desired to operate a loop antenna in a lowerfrequency band that covers the GSM sub-bands at 850 MHz and 900 MHz anda higher frequency band that covers the GSM sub-bands at 1800 MH and1900 MHz and the data sub-band at 2100 MHz. This type of arrangement maybe considered to be a dual band arrangement (e.g., 850/900 for the firstband and 1800/1900/2100 for the second band) or may be considered tohave five bands (850, 900, 1800, 1900, and 2100). In multi-bandarrangements such as these, series-fed antennas such as loop antenna 82of FIG. 5 may exhibit substantially better impedance matching in thehigh-frequency communications band than in the low-frequencycommunications band.

A standing-wave-ratio (SWR) versus frequency plot that illustrates thiseffect is shown in FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, SWR plot 90 may exhibit asatisfactory resonant peak (peak 94) at high-band frequency f2 (e.g., tocover the sub-bands at 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz, and 2100 MHz). SWR plot 90may, however, exhibit a relatively poor performance in the low-frequencyband centered at frequency f1 when antenna 40 is series fed. Forexample, SWR plot 90 for a series-fed loop antenna 82 of FIG. 5 may becharacterized by weak resonant peak 96. As this example demonstrates,series-fed loop antennas may provide satisfactory impedance matching totransmission line 52 (FIG. 3) in a higher frequency band at f2, but maynot provide satisfactory impedance matching to transmission line 52(FIG. 3) in lower frequency band f1.

A more satisfactory level of performance (illustrated by low-bandresonant peak 92) may be obtained using a parallel-fed arrangement withappropriate impedance matching features.

An illustrative parallel-fed loop antenna is shown schematically in FIG.7. As shown in FIG. 7, parallel-fed loop antenna 90 may have a loop ofconductor such as loop 92. Loop 92 in the FIG. 7 example is shown asbeing circular. This is merely illustrative. Loop 92 may have othershapes if desired (e.g., rectangular shapes, shapes with both curved andstraight sides, shapes with irregular borders, etc.). Transmission lineTL may include positive signal conductor 94 and ground signal conductor96. Paths 94 and 96 may be contained in coaxial cables, micro-striptransmission lines on flex circuits and rigid printed circuit boards,etc. Transmission line TL may be coupled to the feed of antenna 90 usingpositive antenna feed terminal 58 and ground antenna feed terminal 54.Electrical element 98 may bridge terminals 58 and 54, thereby “closing”the loop formed by path 92. When the loop is closed in this way, element98 is interposed in the conductive path that forms loop 92. Theimpedance of parallel-fed loop antennas such as loop antenna 90 of FIG.7 may be adjusted by proper selection of the element 98 and, if desired,other circuits (e.g., capacitors or other elements interposed in one ofthe feed lines such as line 94 or line 96).

Element 98 may be formed from one or more electrical components.Components that may be used as all or part of element 98 includeresistors, inductors, and capacitors. Desired resistances, inductances,and capacitances for element 98 may be formed using integrated circuits,using discrete components and/or using dielectric and conductivestructures that are not part of a discrete component or an integratedcircuit. For example, a resistance can be formed using thin lines of aresistive metal alloy, capacitance can be formed by spacing twoconductive pads close to each other that are separated by a dielectric,and an inductance can be formed by creating a conductive path on aprinted circuit board. These types of structures may be referred to asresistors, capacitors, and/or inductors or may be referred to ascapacitive antenna feed structures, resistive antenna feed structuresand/or inductive antenna feed structures.

An illustrative configuration for antenna 40 in which component 98 ofthe schematic diagram of FIG. 7 has been implemented using an inductoris shown in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, loop 92 (FIG. 7) may beimplemented using conductive regions 70 and the conductive portions ofregion 68 that run along edge 76 of opening 72. Antenna 40 of FIG. 8 maybe fed using positive antenna feed terminal 58 and ground antenna feedterminal 54. Terminals 54 and 58 may be located in the vicinity of gap18 to reduce electric field concentrations in gap 18 and thereby reducethe sensitivity of antenna 40 to touch events.

The presence of inductor 98 may at least partly help match the impedanceof transmission line 52 to antenna 40. If desired, inductor 98 may beformed using a discrete component such as a surface mount technology(SMT) inductor. The inductance of inductor 98 may also be implementedusing an arrangement of the type shown in FIG. 9. With the configurationof FIG. 9, the loop conductor of parallel-fed loop antenna 40 may havean inductive segment SG that runs parallel to ground plane edge GE.Segment SG may be, for example, a conductive trace on a printed circuitboard or other conductive member. A dielectric opening DL (e.g., anair-filled or plastic-filled opening) may separate edge portion GE ofground 68 from segment SG of conductive loop portion 70. Segment SG mayhave a length L. Segment SG and associated ground GE form a transmissionline with an associated inductance (i.e., segment SG and ground GE forminductor 98). The inductance of inductor 98 is connected in parallelwith feed terminals 54 and 58 and therefore forms a parallel inductivetuning element of the type shown in FIG. 8. Because inductive element 98of FIG. 9 is formed using a transmission line structure, inductiveelement 98 of FIG. 9 may introduce fewer losses into antenna 40 thanarrangements in which a discrete inductor is used to bridge the feedterminals. For example, transmission-line inductive element 98 maypreserve high-band performance (illustrated as satisfactory resonantpeak 94 of FIG. 6), whereas a discrete inductor might reduce high-bandperformance.

Capacitive tuning may also be used to improve impedance matching forantenna 40. For example, capacitor 100 of FIG. 10 may be connected inseries with center conductor 56 of coaxial cable 52 or other suitablearrangements can be used to introduce a series capacitance into theantenna feed. As shown in FIG. 10, capacitor 100 may be interposed incoaxial cable center conductor 56 or other conductive structures thatare interposed between the end of transmission line 52 and positiveantenna feed terminal 58. Capacitor 100 may be formed by one or morediscrete components (e.g., SMT components), by one or more capacitivestructures (e.g., overlapping printed circuit board traces that areseparated by a dielectric, etc.), lateral gaps between conductive traceson printed circuit boards or other substrates, etc.

The conductive loop for loop antenna 40 of FIG. 10 is formed byconductive structures 70 and the conductive portions of groundconductive structures 66 along edge 76. Loop currents can also passthrough other portions of ground plane 68, as illustrated by currentpaths 102. Positive antenna feed terminal 58 is connected to one end ofthe loop path and ground antenna feed terminal 54 is connected to theother end of the loop path. Inductor 98 bridges terminals 54 and 58 ofantenna 40 of FIG. 10, so antenna 40 forms a parallel-fed loop antennawith a bridging inductance (and a series capacitance from capacitor100).

During operation of antenna 40, a variety of current paths 102 ofdifferent lengths may be formed through ground plane 68. This may helpto broaden the frequency response of antenna 40 in bands of interest.The presence of tuning elements such as parallel inductance 98 andseries capacitance 100 may help to form an efficient impedance matchingcircuit for antenna 40 that allows antenna 40 to operate efficiently atboth high and low bands (e.g., so that antenna 40 exhibits high-bandresonance peak 94 of FIG. 6 and low-band resonance peak 92 of FIG. 6).

A simplified Smith chart showing the possible impact of tuning elementssuch as inductor 98 and capacitor 100 of FIG. 10 on parallel-fed loopantenna 40 is shown in FIG. 11. Point Y in the center of chart 104represents the impedance of transmission line 52 (e.g., a 50 ohm coaxialcable impedance to which antenna 40 is to be matched). Configurations inwhich the impedance of antenna 40 is close to point Y in both the lowand high bands will exhibit satisfactory operation.

With parallel-fed antenna 40 of FIG. 10, high-band matching isrelatively insensitive to the presence or absence of inductive element98 and capacitor 100. However, these components may significantly affectlow band impedance. Consider, as an example, an antenna configurationwithout either inductor 98 or capacitor 100 (i.e., a parallel-fed loopantenna of the type shown in FIG. 4). In this type of configuration, thelow band (e.g., the band at frequency f1 of FIG. 6) may be characterizedby an impedance represented by point X1 on chart 104. When an inductorsuch as parallel inductance 98 of FIG. 9 is added to the antenna, theimpedance of the antenna in the low band may be characterized by pointX2 of chart 104. When a capacitor such as capacitor 100 is added to theantenna, the antenna may be configured as shown in FIG. 10. In this typeof configuration, the impedance of the antenna 40 may be characterizedby point X3 of chart 104.

At point X3, antenna 40 is well matched to the impedance of cable 50 inboth the high band (frequencies centered about frequency f2 in FIG. 6)and the low band (frequencies centered about frequency f1 in FIG. 6).This may allow antenna 40 to support desired communications bands ofinterest. For example, this matching arrangement may allow antennas suchas antenna 40 of FIG. 10 to operate in bands such as the communicationsbands at 850 MHz and 900 MHz (collectively forming the low band regionat frequency f1) and the communications bands at 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz, and2100 MHz (collectively forming the high band region at frequency f2).

Moreover, the placement of point X3 helps ensure that detuning due totouch events is minimized. When a user touches housing 12 of device 10in the vicinity of antenna 40 or when other external objects are broughtinto close proximity with antenna 40, these external objects affect theimpedance of the antenna. In particular, these external objects may tendto introduce a capacitive impedance contribution to the antennaimpedance. The impact of this type of contribution to the antennaimpedance tends to move the impedance of the antenna from point X3 topoint X4, as illustrated by line 106 of chart 104 in FIG. 11. Because ofthe original location of point X3, point X4 is not too far from optimumpoint Y. As a result, antenna 40 may exhibit satisfactory operationunder a variety of conditions (e.g., when device 10 is being touched,when device 10 is not being touched, etc.).

Although the diagram of FIG. 11 represents impedances as points forvarious antenna configurations, the antenna impedances are typicallyrepresented by a collection of points (e.g., a curved line segment onchart 104) due to the frequency dependence of antenna impedance. Theoverall behavior of chart 104 is, however, representative of thebehavior of the antenna at the frequencies of interest. The use ofcurved line segments to represent frequency-dependent antenna impedanceshas been omitted from FIG. 11 to avoid over-complicating the drawing.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this inventionand various modifications can be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

1. An electronic device, comprising: a housing having a periphery; aconductive structure that runs along the periphery and that has at leastone gap on the periphery; and an antenna formed at least partly from theconductive structure.
 2. The electronic device defined in claim 1further comprising a display, wherein the conductive structure comprisesa bezel for the display.
 3. The electronic device defined in claim 2further comprising first and second antenna feed terminals for theantenna, wherein the antenna comprises a parallel-fed loop antenna. 4.The electronic device defined in claim 3 further comprising: asubstantially rectangular ground plane, wherein a portion of the loopantenna is formed from the substantially rectangular ground plane. 5.The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the second antenna feedterminal is connected to the substantially rectangular ground plane. 6.The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the second antenna feedterminal is connected to the substantially rectangular ground plane andwherein the first antenna feed terminal is electrically connected to thebezel.
 7. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein theconductive structure forms a conductive loop path, the electronic devicefurther comprising an inductor interposed in the conductive loop path.8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising first andsecond antenna feed terminals for the antenna, wherein the first andsecond antenna feed terminals are located on opposing sides of the gap.9. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising atransmission line having first and second conductors respectivelyconnected to first and second antenna feed terminals for the antenna anda capacitor between the first conductor of the transmission line and thefirst antenna feed terminal.
 9. The electronic device defined in claim 1further comprising first and second antenna feed terminals for theantenna and an inductor coupled between the first and second antennafeed terminals.
 10. An electronic device, comprising: a housing having aperiphery; a ground plane in the housing; a conductive structure thatruns along the periphery and that has at least one gap on the periphery;an open antenna slot formed partly by the conductive structure andpartly by the ground plane, wherein the open antenna slot has an openingformed by the gap.
 11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 furthercomprising: a closed antenna slot formed partly by the conductivestructure and partly by the ground plane.
 12. The electronic devicedefined in claim 11 further comprising: an L-shaped conductive regionthat forms edges of both the open and closed antenna slots and that isdisposed between the open and closed antenna slots.
 13. The electronicdevice defined in claim 12 further comprising: radio-frequencytransceiver circuitry; first and second antenna feed terminals; and atransmission line having positive and ground conductors, wherein thetransmission line is coupled between the radio-frequency transceivercircuitry and the first and second antenna feed terminals.
 14. Theelectronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the first antenna feedterminal is located on the ground plane and wherein the second antennafeed terminal is located on the L-shaped conductive region.
 15. Theelectronic device defined in claim 14 further comprising a display,wherein the conductive structure comprises a bezel for the display. 16.Wireless circuitry, comprising: a ground plane; a conductive electronicdevice bezel having a gap; a solid dielectric that fills the gap; andfirst and second antenna feed terminals, wherein the ground plane,bezel, and first and second antenna feed terminals form a parallel-fedloop antenna.
 17. The wireless circuitry defined in claim 16 wherein theparallel-fed loop antenna comprises an open slot, wherein the open slothas an opening formed by the gap in the conductive electronic devicebezel.
 18. The wireless circuitry defined in claim 17 wherein the firstand second antenna feed terminals are located on opposing sides of thegap.
 19. The wireless circuitry defined in claim 18 wherein theparallel-fed loop antenna further comprises a closed slot, wherein theopen and closed slots are each partly defined by the conductiveelectronic device bezel and by the ground plane, the wireless circuitryfurther comprising L-shaped conductive structures separating the openand closed slots.
 20. The wireless circuitry defined in claim 19 whereinthe open slot has approximately rectangular shaped interior region andwherein the open slot has an approximately L-shaped interior region.